Until She Speaks Those Three Words
by kayla-thebored
Summary: He hears her loud screams,but before he can move he is already ahead of him,running to her side,comforting her.It hurts to see her like this,vulnerable & scared.But,it hurts even more to see her scream and long for him.To see her plead for him to stay.He knows they have something special together, a special bond.But he won't give up,not yet. Not until she speaks those three words.


She stares, quietly and blankly as the fire flickers here and there, trying to warm her cold soul in this frigid night. She stares at it as she sits, motionless in the house that was given to her as a reward for all the gruesome things she had gone through and done. She sits and stares, thinking about all the horrible pain she had caused, not only to the people she had killed, but also to the people still surrounding her.

It's a cold night, snow falling on the coal dusted grounds of the district. She knows there will be a blizzard soon, but she doesn't have to worry since she is in the 'safety' of her own, stable house. No, she doesn't need to worry anymore that they might not have enough heat to warm themselves or that they won't have enough food to last through the blizzards that usually last days. No, those days are over. So she sits there, and continues to stare.

The fire is blown back as a gust of cold air tackles it, also hitting her. She does not move, not even flinch or shiver as the cold air chills her to the bone. She turns, to see who would be stupid enough to trudge to through the knee-deep snow with a forthcoming blizzard just around the corner.

As the two men enter the house, they quickly shut the door behind them to prevent the harsh wind to extinguish the fire that has made a warm atmosphere throughout the whole house. They stomp their feet to rid of the snow clinging to their boots and hang their coats by the door.

She stands from her position on the armchair without a word and proceeds to go to the kitchen as they follow behind her. Her mother and little sister are there, each holding a cup of warm tea. They look up as the group enters.

"Peeta!" Little Prim squeals as she runs to him.

"Hey there, Prim!" he says as he hugs her shoulders. She's has made a liking to him ever since he returned with her sister, always being kind and warm towards him, certainly kinder than her sister has ever been towards him.

"Would you boys like a cup of tea?" her mother asks

"That would be great Mrs. Everdeen." Peeta says politely as he lets go of Prim, who runs upstairs in an excited manner.

As she busies herself with boiling the water for a new set, Katniss takes this opportunity to turn towards her two guests.

"What are you doing here?" she asks rather rudely, but not caring.

"Came to check on you, sweetheart." Her mentor grunted "Lover boy here dragged me to your house." He says annoyance evident in his voice. Obviously, he had just been dragged away from his alcohol and forced to clean up.

Peeta only rolls his eyes "I had to check up on you too. I had to make sure you haven't died from alcohol poisoning."

"Wouldn't be so bad if it happened" Grunted their mentor.

She sighs "So, why are you here? There is a blizzard coming up." She informs them

"We know, we just wanted to check if you guys were fine." Peeta says "And also, to give this to you guys, make sure you have enough bread throughout the blizzard." He says as he raises a bag she had not seen him carry.

He sets it on the kitchen counter as he pulls out two loaves of freshly baked bread.

Mrs. Everdeen comes back with a tray with three cups of tea for each of them.

"Thank you, Peeta. I'll go store them in the pantry." She says as she takes the loaves of bread from him.

The three of them sit on stools as they sip the hot tea, not caring and actually enjoying the scorching hot liquid. A little burn on their tongues is nothing compared to what all of them have gone through, especially for the girl and boy on fire.

They sit in silence as they continuously sip their tea; the only sound you can hear is the flicker of the flames in the fireplace.

Suddenly, the silence is broken as they hear Prims loud stomps as she hurries down the stairs. She runs to Peeta with a sheet of paper and hands it to him, a wide smile lighting her face.

"What's this?" Peeta asks as he takes the paper from her.

He examines the paper and a smile grazes on his lips as he looks up to Prim.

"This is very pretty, Prim." He tells her "Is this a primrose?" he asks as he points to the drawing.

She nods and points at the corner of the paper "And this is a katniss plant." She says with a giggle.

He smiles at her "Well, you're a very good artist, I think you would be a great painter if you weren't already a great healer." He smiles at her and she takes back the paper, blushing at his compliments.

Katniss watches her sister and her supposed lover as they converse with each other, smiling at each other. She wonders to herself, how could she have ever hurt this boy who has been nothing but kind and compassionate to her. But then, she looks at her sweet, innocent little sister and she knows, she did it, to get back by her side.

She watches as he tells her how to make the drawing more realistic. He points at where she should add more details to make the picture really pop out. Their conversation is interrupted when a loud knock comes from outside the door.

She sighs, wondering who it is now. Does the dangerous weather mean nothing to anyone anymore? She asks herself. She moves to stand but Prim had already beaten her to it, yelling "I got it.", as she runs towards the door.

"Gale!" she squeals. Her head snaps up, as she hears him come through the front door.

She sneaks a glance at Peeta, whose face has fallen slightly. So slightly, that no one else in the room could have noticed it. But, she did. She looks towards Haymitch, who was looking at his cup of tea with a bored look on his face. As Prim appears through the kitchen door, she is followed by the tall build of Gale. He stops in his tracks half-way through the door, his smile melting off as he sees that she apparently has company.

He looks down and clears his throat "I didn't know you had company, I'll come back later." He says as he turns around for the door.

She just nods but Prim decided to speak up "It's alright Gale! We're just having tea, besides it's freezing out there, you can use a cup before you leave."

He turns around and looks at her "If it's alright." He says, asking for her permission.

She thinks this is stupid. He is always welcome in her house, no matter who is in it, so she only nods her approval to him and takes another sip from her cup.

He slowly walks towards the kitchen counter where her mother has prepared another cup for him. He passes Peeta and they nod at each other, acknowledging the fact that they are both under the same roof as each other and her, but not quite liking it.

She rolls her eyes as Gale takes his cup and stands at the corner of the kitchen counter, leaning against it as far away from Peeta as possible.

"So, what brings _you _here, Gale?" she asks

He shrugs "Just wanted to check up on you before the blizzard, I guess" he says as he takes a sip from his cup.

After that comes silence. They continue to sip their tea rather uncomfortably, except for Haymitch, who doesn't seem to feel the tense air surrounding everyone.

"What are they doing here?" Gale asks

Before she could answer, Peeta had already opened his mouth to speak.

"We came here to make sure they got enough bread to last through the blizzard." He says plainly

"I'm sure they can survive a day or two without bread from you." Gales says

"Well, I'm pretty sure she can survive a small blizzard without her needing your assistance." He counters back

"From what I've seen, obviously, you can't survive anything without her taking care of you." He challenges.

Peeta stands up from his chair and Gales lifts his chin higher, waiting for him to pounce on him. She lets out an exhausted sigh as she puts her cup on the kitchen counter, knowing this isn't going to lead anything good.

She stands, "Enough! If you are just going to act like little boys then you might as well leave before the blizzard comes. I don't want any fights happening in my house." She says sternly.

The two men in front of her continue to hold each other's hard and firm glares, their frowns twitching into scowls.

After a few moments, Peeta decides to speak up "Let me be the mature one." he says as he settles back down on his stool. A small, smug smirk appears on Gale's face as he raises his cup to his mouth.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Gale" she snaps as she too, settles back on her stool.

Ten minutes has passed in silence as they continue to hold their tea cups which have now turned cold. She turns to the clock and sees that it is only an hour until the predicted time of the blizzard will come.

"You guys should leave, the blizzard should occur in about an hour and the Seam is about twenty minutes away." She says as she stands up "Go check on your family Gale."

Gale eyes Peeta warily.

She sighs "Peeta and Haymitch will be leaving exactly the same time as you will."

"Alright" he says as he settles his cup onto the countertop. Peeta stands from his stool and drains his cup before putting it on the kitchen counter.

Gale turns to her "Are you going to go hunting after the blizzard?" he asks her

"I don't know. I don't think trudging through the snow in the forest is safe, and we probably won't get any good game anyway, due to the weather." She says

He nods "Alright, I'll see you in a couple days then, Catnip." He says and turns to look at Peeta who is already pulling Haymitch out of his chair.

He nods at her "Call us if you need anything, Katniss." He says and she nods.

She walks them to the door when her mother stops them.

"Oh Katniss, you can't let them out now. The blizzard has already started! It seems that the weather forecasters in the Capitol made a mistake. The blizzard started a few minutes after Gale came."

Four heads turn to the window and sure enough, you can see nothing but white as the harsh wind blows the cold snow everywhere. You can hear the whistle of the wind if you listen hard enough and the sound of the wind hitting tree branches and shrubbery.

"How are we supposed to leave now?" Gale asks

"You can't." her mother says "By the way I see it, you step outside of my door you're going to be thrown back at least a few feet. We're going to have to wait it out until it gets calmer."

"Oh goodie, a sleep over in your house." Haymitch grumbles in fake enthusiastic tone as he heads for the stairs.

"Would you rather I kick your butt outside to trudge through the snow?" Katniss asks him, annoyance lacing through her tone.

He grunts "I'm going to take your guest bedroom." He says as he ascends up the stairs

She turns to the two of them "You're going to have to settle in the living room for the night." She says and they both nod.

The three of them head for the living room where the fireplace is still emitting the warm air that is very much wanted. There, they find Prim drawing on the ground near the hearth as she lies on her stomach, drawing primroses.

She settles herself on the long sofa across the fireplace whilst Peeta and Gale take the armchairs across from each other. They sit there for a few minutes until Peeta notices his sketchpad and pencils on her coffee table.

"I thought I lost these." He says as he takes them from the table.

"You left them here the last time you visited." She answers

Gale's eyes narrows. He hadn't seen the sketchpad since the last time he visited which means that Peeta visited her more recently. A small frown forms on his mouth.

Peeta flips the sketchbook onto a blank page and takes one of his pencils as he starts to draw, concentrating on the direction of Prim as she obliviously continues to draw by the hearth. His forehead forms a crease as he scrunches his eyebrows in concentration while he draws lines and shapes in gentle strokes and sways of his hands, the movement very precise.

A few minutes pass as they sit there and he is finished. He adds just a few more details before facing his new creation towards her. She smiles as she sees the perfection of his drawing. He has drawn Prim as she draws near the fireplace. Every detail was perfect, the way she holds her chin up using her palm as she draws her primroses, which Peeta also drew just as she drew it, the way a few strands of her hair fall out of her two pigtails and rests on the side of her face, and the way the tip of her tongue sticks out of her mouth just barely as she tries to draw her lines correctly.

She smiles "It's beautiful." She says as she averts her eyes from the art in front of her to its subject.

Peeta smiles at her "It's not hard to draw something beautifully when they're already perfect." He smiles at her.

Gale watches their exchange and can't help but feel a pang in his chest. Her smiles to him are so similar to those in which she gives to him but it feels different somehow. Like, there is a certain warmness in them that is only reserved for him and only him. He turns away from their smiling faces just as Prim raises her arms in a stretching manner and yawns.

She gets up from the sofa and walk towards her.

"Come on, little duck. It's time to go to bed." She says as she pulls her up.

"I'm going to finish my drawing tomorrow, Peeta." She says in a tired voice

Peeta smiles warmly at her "I'll be looking forward to seeing it tomorrow, Prim. Good night."

"Good night, Gale." She says as they make their way up the stairs.

"Good night, Prim."

When the sounds of their footsteps going up the stairs disappear, Gale turns to the guy in front of him. He expected him to be looking at him too, probably with a glare that destroys his 'nice-guy' charm and whatnot, but instead he pays him no attention as he gazes seriously on the vase of flowers on the coffee table, trying to get the perfect angle to draw it in.

"Is this the only thing you do all day?" he suddenly asks the artist in front of him "Draw, bake and visit her?" he asks

"No, I work in my father's bakery too." He answers, not looking up from the vase.

"Why? You have enough money to feed your family your whole life. You don't need to work." Slight bitterness is evident in his voice.

"Yeah, but I want to. Besides, where else will the people of district 12 get their bread? I'm sure my family can handle the bakery well, but just because I have the money, doesn't mean I should just slack around." Peeta answers in a calm, controlled voice.

He nods.

Moments later, Katniss descends back from the stairs and goes back to her previous position on the sofa.

They just stay there, Peeta drawing, Katniss staring and Gale sitting. A few minutes of silence takes over them when she decides to stand up.

"It looks like the storm isn't going to let up now so, I'm going to bed." She declares. Peeta stands, being the gentleman that he is until she is no longer visible on the stairs and continues to draw. Both baker and hunter refuse to sleep until the other one does, but, without really knowing it, both of them are pulled into sleep as the time passes by.

It feels only like a minute that they shut their eyes to sleep when they snap open due to the ear-piercing scream that echoes through-out the house. Gale blinks the sleep away as he registers the screams, wondering who it is coming from. But a second before he realizes who it is, Peeta has already run up the stairs, skipping three steps at a time.

He follows behind him as he sprints in front of him towards her room. The closer they got to her room, the louder the screams get. Peeta doesn't knock or even hesitate to barge into her room. When the doors are forced open, the screams get louder as they are no longer muffled by the wooden door.

The sight before Gale saddens and terrifies him. He has never seen her like this. The covers are tangled around her, her forehead covered in a thin layer of sweat, cheeks covered in tears; eyes shut tightly and mouth agape in a loud scream. She flails and claws at the air for something that isn't there.

He wants to go to her, to comfort her, but he is paralyzed, and he can only watch as Peeta goes to her side quickly, taking her in his arms and hugging her, rocking her back and forth as he whispers soothing words to her ear. Her screams die and is replaced by whimpers.

"It's okay, Katniss. I'm right here. I'm not going to let them hurt you." He whispers in her ears as her screams fade into whimpers. She is shaking uncontrollably in his arms and he is certain it is not because of the harsh chill from the blizzard.

He feels her pull back slightly as she wakes. She looks up at him with scared and tearful eyes. The image of her like this, scared and vulnerable, makes his heart break. He wipes away her tears with his thumbs and tells her it's going to be alright, even though they both know that isn't true.

"Oh, Peeta" she whimpers as she reaches up to cup his face in her hands, testing whether or not he's really there.

Tears silently slide down on her wet cheeks as she remembers her horrible dream. "They took you away from me." She whispered in a broken voice. "They dragged you away."

"Shh, no they didn't Katniss. I'm right here. You're right here. We're safe." He tells her.

She shakes her head "We're never safe." She chokes out.

Peeta looks at the girl he loves and his heart is breaking at the sound of lost hope in her voice. He pulls her toward him and wraps his arms around her tightly. She does not protest and wraps her arms around his waist as she settles her head against his chest.

"I'm going to keep you safe. I promise." He says to her as he kisses the top of her head "I'll protect you, and if not I'll die trying."

She shakes her head "I don't want you to die. I don't want you to leave."

"I'll never leave." He promises

"Then stay with me tonight." Her tone is pleading, silently begging him to stay.

"Okay." He answers as he slides into bed with her, not taking his arms off of her.

She lays her head on his chest and lays her hand right under his neck, just above his heart as he wraps his arms around her shoulder and waist, saying soothing words into her ear.

When she is at the edge of consciousness and sleep, she barely hears him say it, but she does, loud and clear.

"I love you Katniss."

"Hmm." She murmurs as she is finally pulled into a deep sleep.

He closes his eyes, hoping that both of them will have a peaceful sleep tonight. But, just as he closes his eyes, he sees the figure of him, standing out the door, closing it.

Gale sighs as he descends down the stairs. It had saddened him to see her like that, crying and weak and vulnerable because of the nightmares that haunt her at night. It had angered him that all of this is caused because of those wretched games and Snow.

It had hurt him, that the only person that could calm her down was Peeta, that she had been looking for him, longing for him, thinking that the Capitol had taken him. She had cried for him and held him tightly as though she never wanted to let go for fear that he might disappear in thin air.

He had been jealous, but he also knew that whatever she was going through, he was the only one who could comfort her, because he saw everything she saw, felt everything she felt and heard everything she heard.

They share something that not even he or any other person can break. They share a bond so strong that they are inseparable. He knows, that she is probably denying it all of the time, trying to convince herself that they are only bound to each other due to the fact that they had survived those cruel games together, but he knows better. He means something to her, something great.

But even though he knows this, he's not giving up. Not yet. He'll try and try until it is made clear by she herself. He'll try until she speaks those three words to Peeta and not to him. No, he won't give up. Not yet.

**Probably not my best work. I wrote this in just an hour and there is probably a lot of grammar or spelling mistakes since I was in a hurry to post this. I wanted to post this because it was my birthday yesterday and I just turned 14 so yay for me! Anyway, I wanted to post this as soon as possible since it was supposed to be posted on my birthday. **

**The title is probably crappy too, but it was the only thing I could think of in like, 2 minutes, so forgive my lack of imagination.**

**Anyway, they might have been a little OOC so if you have advice please, don't hesitate to review or message me! Thank you for reading this and please, favourite, review and add me as your favourite author! It'll be kind of like a birthday gift for me! XD **

**Thanks guys!**

**P.S. I wrote this in Chicago, so thank Chicago for giving me inspiration!**

**-Kayla-thebored-**


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